Importance of Data Management to the Internet of Things

Importance of Data Management to the Internet of Things

In partial fulfillment of the requirements

for MGMT 4709:  Business & Society

December 18, 2016

Abstract

The purpose of the Internet has (traditionally) been about connecting information and people. However, today there is a new vision of the internet’s future called the Internet of Things (IoT). Unlike the internet which has a tangible infrastructure with a commonly documented and understood design and architecture, the IoT is still mostly a vision and only partially implemented. Therefore, the IoT introduces new challenges, innovative product development, cross-industry coordination, strategic implementations, economic growth, and societal behavioral changes. The IoT assumes that information will continue to be shared and that both people and devices will be connected. This data-sharing assumption draws attention to the backbone of the IoT and foreshadows the importance of a strategic approach and the dramatic impacts of the IoT with regard to data management, including data storage, protection, and privacy. With the exponential growth in the number of devices and people being added to the IoT and forecasted to be connected by 2020, there appears to be a lack of advanced planning for development standards needed to foster compatibility across devices; and a lack of data standards needed to manage information appropriately and enable advanced analytics that will be required to facilitate the implementation of the IoT.

Importance of Data Management to the Internet of Things

Introduction

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept that emerged in the late 1990’s and is a vision of a vastly connected world through seamlessly linked devices. The IoT offers significant benefits to our society. It is helping cities and businesses improve their operational and environmental efficiency thereby reducing their carbon footprints. It is helping employees improve their productivity and enabling managers enforce standards, policies, and best practices. And it is helping business be more innovative in bringing new products and services to the market which not only transforms and improves the consumer’s experience but also generates additional revenue.  The IoT is increasingly discussed and analyzed, and is quickly becoming a driving influence - an imperative - for businesses as well as governments.

Today, the IoT is already being used is several industries and shaping society’s expectations regarding products and services. For example: (Sullivan, 2015)

• Public Safety – police officers now have access to bio-monitors, environmental sensors, communication devices (smartphones and tablets), GPS tracking devices, facial-recognition software, in-car computers, and police cameras
• Fleet Management and Transportation – connecting vehicles and drivers to the internet, leveraging data such as traffic updates, road conditions, passenger demand, freight loads, and transit tracking
• Asset Tracking – advancing capabilities and performance monitoring for facilities, physical asset management, inventory optimization, production information, and staffing
• Payment (POS, Vending, ATM, Parking Meters) – offering new methods of payments beyond swiping credit card, such as making payments from a digital wallet, a chip embedded in a ticket, and a smart watch or other device
• Remote Monitoring and Control – especially true for manufacturing and healthcare where plant managers and caregivers are not always located collocated with the device that needs monitoring
• Smart Energy – smart meters are now used regularly to maintain indoor temperature, track solar panel performance, regulate or measure usage of all utilities, and monitor the weather
• Privacy and Security – tracking or monitoring employee movements, storing individual health conditions or treatments, protecting intellectual property or trade secrets, and preventing viruses from infecting technical platforms or systems

 The International Institute for Analytics defined IoT in 2015 as “the network of physical objects or ‘things’ embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to collect and exchange data.” (Mann, 2015) At a basic level, the essence of IoT resides in the source of the data, which are the smart devices (or sensors) which generate data about activities, people, events, and other factors (i.e., the environment) that provide businesses and governments with visibility into performance of systems and preferences of consumers. This data then supports decision processes across a variety of industries and consumer channels. Data analytics is not a new concept or capability for many industries but the IoT of things expands the data paradigm beyond current capabilities.